How to attend Canton Fair: first-timer guide for Nigerians

How to attend Canton Fair as a first timer: when to arrive, where to go, what to carry, what to ask suppliers and which details to record properly.

The first shock at Canton Fair is the size.

You enter expecting a trade show. What you find is a complex covering multiple exhibition areas, thousands of suppliers and enough products to waste an entire day if you arrive without a plan.

If you are learning how to attend Canton Fair for the first time, your goal is not to visit as many booths as possible.

Your goal is to leave each day with a small number of suppliers worth contacting again.

This is how to organise the day.

First: make sure you are attending the right phase #

The Canton Fair is divided into three phases.

For the 140th Canton Fair in autumn 2026, the official dates are:

• Phase 1: 15–19 October 2026
• Phase 2: 23–27 October 2026
• Phase 3: 31 October–4 November 2026

The fair is open for business discussions from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The products change between phases.

Phase 1 covers areas such as electronics, appliances, machinery, vehicles, auto parts, lighting, electrical products, hardware and new energy.

Phase 2 moves into household products, kitchenware, gifts, decorations, building materials, sanitary equipment and furniture.

Phase 3 covers clothing, textiles, shoes, bags, toys, baby products, personal care, medical products, food and related consumer categories.

Do not fly to Guangzhou simply because somebody told you “Canton Fair starts in October.”

Check which phase actually contains your product.

Our Canton Fair phases explained guide breaks the categories down further.

Before 8:30 a.m.: leave the hotel prepared #

The Fair opens to buyers at 9:30 a.m., but arriving in the area earlier gives you time for transport, security and finding the correct entrance.

Do not start your morning searching your hotel room for documents.

Prepare the night before.

Carry your passport, buyer badge, phone, power bank, business cards, notebook or notes app, water and a light bag.

Wear comfortable shoes.

That last point sounds trivial until you spend a full day walking between halls.

If you are still preparing for the trip, use our what to pack for a China buying trip checklist.

Do you collect your Canton Fair badge at the airport? #

You can, if the official registration service is operating there for your Fair session and you have completed the required pre-registration.

The Canton Fair encourages overseas buyers to pre-register before arriving.

Official alternative badge collection points can include Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou South Railway Station, Pazhou Ferry Terminal and designated Guangzhou hotels, as well as registration offices at the exhibition complex.

That can save time on your first morning.

Do not assume you can simply land in Guangzhou, walk into the Fair and sort everything out at the gate.

Complete your buyer registration before travelling and keep the required identification and registration information accessible.

If you still need the process, read our Canton Fair buyer registration and badge guide.

And keep the physical badge safe.

You will use it to enter the Fair, so do not treat it like an ordinary conference tag you can lose and replace casually.

9:30 a.m.: do not start walking randomly #

Once you enter, resist the temptation to stop at the first attractive booth.

Open your product list.

Know what you came to find.

If you need solar products, you should not spend your first two hours inspecting kitchen equipment because the stands look interesting.

Use the official Canton Fair website or app to search exhibitors and products before and during the Fair.

The complex is large enough that poor planning costs real business time.

For your first day, choose a narrow target.

For example:

Today I am finding three serious suppliers for rechargeable standing fans between these specifications and this target price.

That is much more useful than:

Today I am looking for products to import.

What should you say when you reach a supplier's booth? #

You do not need a long introduction.

Tell the salesperson what you want, your market and the quantity you are considering.

For example:

I sell in Nigeria. I am looking for this model in 1,000 units. What is your MOQ, FOB price, production time and available specification?

That immediately gives the supplier something commercial to answer.

Then go deeper.

Ask whether they are a manufacturer or trading company.

Ask where the factory is.

Ask which markets they currently export to.

Ask whether the product can be customised.

Ask about MOQ.

Ask the price at more than one quantity.

Ask production lead time.

Ask what certifications the product has.

Ask whether samples are available.

Ask the port used for FOB quotations.

And if the product will enter Nigeria, ask for the technical documents you may later need—but verify Nigerian requirements yourself.

A Chinese supplier telling you “this certificate is okay for Africa” is not enough.

10:30 a.m.: stop collecting useless catalogues #

First-time buyers often leave Canton Fair carrying kilograms of paper.

You do not need every catalogue.

If the supplier is not a realistic option, keep moving.

For suppliers you like, collect the business card and useful product information.

Then immediately connect the information.

Take a photograph of the booth.

Take a photograph of the product.

Take a photograph of the business card.

Then write a short note such as:

Supplier 08 — good power bank finish, MOQ 1,000, quoted $4.10, Shenzhen factory, sample available, check capacity claim.

Without that note, by evening you may have 70 photos and no idea which salesperson showed you which product.

This small habit is one of the most useful things a first-time buyer can do.

Should you add every supplier on WeChat? #

For serious suppliers, yes.

WeChat remains one of the easiest ways to continue business communication in China.

But do not add someone and assume you will remember them later.

Send a message while you are still standing at the booth:

Charles — Nigeria — Canton Fair — rechargeable fan

Now both sides can identify the conversation later.

If you are travelling from Nigeria, set up WeChat before the trip rather than trying to solve account problems at the exhibition.

Our guide explains how to set up WeChat in Nigeria.

Around midday: review before continuing #

Do not spend nine straight hours moving from booth to booth without checking what you have collected.

Around lunch, sit down and review the morning.

Which suppliers are genuinely strong?

Which ones are offering almost identical products?

Which quotation looks suspiciously low?

Which supplier could not answer basic technical questions?

Which product deserves a second visit?

Delete weak options mentally before the afternoon starts.

The purpose of Canton Fair is not to return to Nigeria with 300 supplier contacts.

Five properly researched suppliers are more useful than 300 business cards.

1:30 p.m.: start comparing suppliers properly #

By the afternoon, you should understand the market better than you did in the morning.

Now comparison becomes easier.

When Supplier A says $5.20 and Supplier B says $4.40, do not immediately assume Supplier B is better.

Check whether they are quoting the same:

• specification;
• materials;
• capacity;
• packaging;
• accessories;
• MOQ;
• branding;
• Incoterm;
• and quality level.

A supplier can make a product cheaper by changing the product.

If you intend to import in volume, get the specification written clearly enough that you can request the same thing from several suppliers.

That makes later quotations much easier to compare.

3:00 p.m.: go back to the strongest booths #

Your second conversation is often more useful than the first.

Return to the best suppliers.

Now ask the questions you forgot earlier.

Confirm the model.

Confirm MOQ.

Confirm sample availability.

Confirm packaging.

Confirm production time.

Ask for a written quotation.

If private labelling matters, ask to see examples.

If certification matters, ask them to send copies rather than simply saying they have them.

And if the order is important, ask whether a factory visit can be arranged.

You are no longer browsing.

You are narrowing the field.

Do not pay a deposit at the booth because you feel pressured #

Canton Fair creates urgency.

Suppliers may offer “fair prices”, discounts or special terms.

That does not mean you must transfer money immediately.

For a new supplier, there are still things to check after the Fair:

company registration, sample quality, specifications, Nigerian compliance requirements, payment details, inspection arrangements and landed cost.

A cheap booth price can become an expensive mistake if the goods cannot legally enter Nigeria or arrive at the wrong specification.

Before placing an order, understand how to pay a Chinese supplier from Nigeria and how China supplier deposits and balances should be handled.

5:00 p.m.: stop discovering and start organising #

The Fair officially runs until 6:00 p.m., but do not use your final hour to collect another pile of random contacts.

Use it to close the day's work.

Mark suppliers:

A — follow up immediately

B — compare later

C — reject

For every A supplier, make sure you have:

the person's name, company, product, model, price, MOQ, WeChat or email, booth information and whatever documents they promised to send.

If information is missing, go back before leaving.

After 6:00 p.m.: do 30 minutes of work before dinner #

This is where a productive Canton Fair day separates from a tourist day.

Back at the hotel, spend 30 minutes organising what happened.

Rename important photographs.

Put quotations in folders.

Record supplier names.

Add notes while conversations are still fresh.

Send short messages to your strongest suppliers confirming what was discussed.

Do not wait until you return to Nigeria one week later.

By then, both you and the salesperson may be trying to remember a five-minute conversation among hundreds of others.

Our full guide on what to do after Canton Fair explains the next stage: verifying suppliers, requesting samples, comparing quotations and preparing the first order.

What does a successful first Canton Fair day look like? #

Not 100 booths.

Not three bags of catalogues.

Not 500 product photographs.

A successful day could simply mean:

you found the right product section, spoke seriously with 15 suppliers, rejected 10, kept five, and identified two or three companies worth verifying.

That is progress.

Learning how to attend Canton Fair is really learning how to filter.

There are more products and suppliers than you can properly investigate during one visit.

Go with a buying list.

Ask commercial questions.

Write things down.

Compare the same specifications.

Do not rush payment.

And leave every day knowing exactly which suppliers deserve the next conversation.

If you are travelling from Nigeria and need help planning your Canton Fair visit, finding the correct supplier sections, arranging an interpreter, checking suppliers or coordinating sourcing after the Fair, ChinaBridge Global can assist with the China side of the trip.

First published 24 Sep 2026. Last checked 26 Sep 2026 by The ChinaBridge desk. Something here out of date? Tell us in the comments and we will fix it.